Sunday, October 7, 2012

September Roses

September has been a tough month for the roses and all plants in general in my garden. It was hot, but sometimes it was very hot (highest temperatures peaking at 103 F/43 C). Even without taking the extremes in consideration temperatures have been too high here to fit the rose's comfort zone.

Me still being on a tight schedule and also gone on a business trip last month I was watering as much as I could and my husband did, too, when I was away. All the roses in the ground survived, but I lost or almost lost a few (time will tell) which are still growing in small containers. Very sad, but I guess it is natural that gardening comes with some losses.

That being said, some roses did remarkably well even under these difficult conditions.  Please take a look at my most beautiful rose blooms from the month of September:




This is 'The Prince', a David Austin rose, and in my opinion he won the "Most Beautiful Rose of September" - award. He comes with an incredible lovely fragrance and I expect the color of the blooms to become darker as the weather cools down, which makes this rose even more desirable. The bush is carrying quite some buds right now, so there is definitively something to look forward to.




'Moonstone', a Hybrid Tea rose, also showed some very nice flowers last month. This rose loves the heat! It never looked heat-stressed no matter how high the temperatures were rising. I truly can't say this of many of my roses.




Above you can see a bush shot of my 'Moonstone'. You might ask what is so exciting about it. Well, it is a Hybrid Tea rose growing on its own roots and it is the first one that I grew from a tiny band and planted in the ground. Hybrid Tea roses have a reputation to be finicky on their own roots, needing the support of a vigorous rootstock to be grafted on. I just planted 'Moonstone' into the White Garden Bed in the first quarter of this year and the bush has really taken off (if you want to see how the plant looked in April please click here and scroll down the post until you see the pictures of the rose bush). Right now 'Moonstone' is pretty clean, but it had its share of rust and powdery mildew.




'Charles Darwin', my most prolific producer of blooms in the month of September, even though this rose is still growing only in a container. I am seriously thinking of putting him in the ground to give him more leg room. I just have a feeling that this could be an outstanding rose in my garden.



'Stephen's Big Purple' another Hybrid Tea rose that did well in the heat. I just would have loved to see it more purple as the name indicates, but in hot weather the blooms are almost a garish deep hot pink. It is always a little bit of a gamble if you buy a rose that you have never seen in person...



This one on the other hand, 'Charles de Gaulle', which I also bought only after seeing photos of it, is a totally stunning rose in terms of the color and the fragrance. I think it is the "bluest" rose that I own. Unfortunately I might have lost it in the heat spell.



Even though I usually don't like orange roses I am in love with 'Halloween', another Hybrid Tea rose. The warm evening sun light seems to make the rose glow.




This picture of 'Halloween' was taken in the early morning light. What a difference! The perfume of this rose is very strong and delightful. I am curious to see if it will actually bloom on Halloween. The roses would be perfect to decorate the holiday table with on that day.




'Green Ice', a miniature is finally looking good! The photo shows probably the best spray that this rose ever produced in my garden. It is supposed to be healthy, but in my climate it is struggling awfully with powdery mildew. For unknown reasons it is also loved by ants. If you look more closely you see them crawling in the flowers. Yuk!



'Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux' is an incredible beautiful Tea rose, which produces one of the most elegant flowers that I have ever seen.



Here is a close-up of a single bloom of 'Rhodologue Jules Gravereaux'.



As usual I could count on 'Pierre de Ronsard' last month.



A very velvety bud of 'Mister Lincoln'.



An unfolding flower of 'Sir Henry Segrave', an older Hybrid Tea rose. I love the pale shade of yellow and the gracefully nodding blooms. Thanks Masha for talking me into this one!



After being fertilized 'Yolande d'Aragon' is responding with blooms. The legs of the rose are still n----, but the flowers are simply wonderful, so that little fault is forgiven.



'Pope John Paul II', another rose that I can really count on to continue to bloom in the heat.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my rose flowers from last month. Wishing you all a good start into the new week!

See you in the garden!

Christina

23 comments:

  1. So many beautiful roses there Christina! Sorry to hear you lost a few potted specimens, one of the hazard of potted plants is that they can dry out so easily. But at least so many more roses have rewarded with you great blooms despite the heat and drought :)

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  2. Oh my gosh Christina ~ Your roses are fabulous. Let me look at them again to see which ones are my favorites of these photos.

    Charles Darwin, Charles de Gaulle, Halloween, Pierre de Ronsard, Sir Henry Segrave

    I loved them all, but the ones listed above just did something for me, heart and soul.

    Have a wonderful week and I hope you get some cooler weather soon.

    Hugs ~ FlowerLady

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  3. What a lovely show in your autumn garden, Christina. Charles Darwin is the winner for me :) Beautiful, beautiful roses !!!

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  4. Christina, what a lovely selection, and looking so good despite the time of year. I have to agree with Dani, Charles Darwin is a stunner!

    Gaz Alternative Eden

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  5. Mark and Gaz, thanks, you are so right about that potted plants are drying out so much quicker than the once planted in to the ground, especially if you live in a very hot climate like I do. You better don't go away in the summer!

    FlowerLady, we have quite an overlap in favorite roses :-)! I am happy my roses tough your heart and soul!

    Dani, Charles Darwin is a winner in my eyes, too!

    Gaz, it is amazing to me that some roses managed to look fabulous despite the heat, which only proofs again that gardening is all about good plant selection.

    Christina

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  6. Your roses look wonderful Christina. It's not to see they had problems standing in the heat. A treasure to my eyes Christina.
    Have a wonderful day.

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  7. Hi Christina, Pope John Paul II is one of my favourites, i have two of them, and my Charles de Gaulle rose is in bud now too. Good to see another person with an interest in roses.

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  8. What a beautiful roses you have despite of the heat. I 'm fond of Pope John Paul II, but also Charles Darwin and Charles de Gaulle are beauties.

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  9. Your blooms of Moonstone are are beautiful. Our Pope John Paul II was slow to start but is now putting out some nice blooms. Yours look awesome!

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  10. How lovely! Thank you for all the pics and posting!

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  11. I'm sure I could smell roses while looking at your pictures. Lovely. Hope you don't suffer too many losses, you never know some might come good in the end.

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  12. Marijke, for this post I tried to select only the roses that didn't show any sun and heat damage, but believe me there were others in the garden ;-)!

    Karen, how exciting that we grow some of the same rose varieties! I have to come over and check out your blog! I love to meet new people over the internet that share the love of roses, too!

    Jannecke, 'Pope John Paul II' is one of my favorite roses out of all that I have! I so hope that I didn't loose 'Charles de Gaulle'. The color is really extraordinary.

    Chris, thanks so much for your compliment on 'Moonstone' and 'Pope John Paul II'. The latter took off immediately in my garden, but I got a very vigorous own root plant from Jackson & Perkins. As I wrote 'Moonstone' on the other hand I grew from a band and it is comparable slower then the Pope to mature. I think own root Hybrid Teas just need their time to get going.

    Sharrieboberry, welcome to my blog and thanks for your comment!

    Martin, thanks, I for sure will not give up on a rose before I know that it is 100% dead. And even then I would likely try to revive it ;-).

    Christina

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  13. Beautiful! I like the "Halloween" rose too. The first photo of it reminds me of a rose I grow called "Westerland".

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  14. Hi Philip, nice that you stopped by! I saw 'Westerland' when I was still living in Germany and you are right the colors in the first photo of 'Halloween' look a lot like the ones of 'Westerland'. But there is a distinct difference in the flower shape and size: the blooms of 'Halloween' are much bigger than the ones of 'Westerland' and have a classic Hybrid Tea shape. Comparing the two roses I find the flowers of 'Halloween' much more elegant.

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  15. Oh, they are all so beautiful! 'The Prince' takes the cake for me. Thank you for sharing your beautiful September roses with us. :-)

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  16. Beth, glad you like my roses. "The Prince" can be extraordinary beautiful. My rose is still young and I can't wait until it matures. Most likely the quality of the blooms will even improve more.

    Christina

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  17. Christina, your roses are truly lovely. Thanks for sharing!

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  18. Louise, welcome to my blog and thanks for your comment. I am glad that you liked my roses!

    Christina

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  19. Hello,
    Thanks for visiting my blog.
    So much beauty you show in yours blog.
    Thanks for the look.
    Have a great new week.

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  20. MarJE, thanks for visiting my blog as well and your kind words about it!

    Christina

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  21. Hello !
    I just discovered your blog. I'm french and I actually live in France and when I see roses in december... that makes me dream ! I live in Savoie (French Alps) and in december, we have snow and frost !
    Actually, your blog is very nice, your photos are beautiful and you have a lot of taste ! (I don't know if you really understand what I mean). I'm fond of The Prince (but my next roses are David Austin English roses) and Moonstone even if the others are splendid !
    Have a nice week-end !
    Celine

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  22. Hi Celine, welcome to my blog and thank you so much for taking the time and writing such a very nice and heart warming comment. It encourages and motivates me to continue to blog and try my best to write posts that people enjoy to read.

    Christina

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